How to Clean Wood Floors

Wood floors bring a warm, organic type of style and beauty to a space. Not only that, but wood floors are beautifully durable and long-lasting, if they’re well cared for. This is a tutorial to demonstrate how to clean wood floors in a way that is fast, effective, and useful for the long haul so that your wood floors will age with charm and grace. You’ll probably want to undergo this cleaning regimen three or four times each month for maximum effect.

Don’t be surprised if the adjacent room ends up looking like this in the process. It may seem time consuming to remove all of this stuff, but it will make cleaning the wood floor itself much faster, and the end result will be a hundred times more satisfying if you have an empty wood slate to work with.

It’s now time to sweep, vacuum, and/or dry-dust mop. You can do one of these things or two of them or all three. I always recommend a regular sweep followed by dry-dust mopping or vacuuming, simply because the very nature of going over the floor twice will remove dirt and debris that are easily missed on the first pass.

An effective tip for removing hardened scum on the wood floors is to take a plastic scraper or the side of a credit card and gently scrape the gunk away. This is easier on the wood floor coating than other methods, and it’s effective in removing many hardened spots that would otherwise take a lot of time and effort to scrub away.

MoreINSPIRATION

When the floor is free of dust, debris, raised spots, and whatever else, it’s time to make it shine. Grab a bottle of Murphy’s Oil Soap. This liquid cleaner is gentle on the wood but effective in cleaning at the same time. (You could also make your own 100% natural cleaner by mixing vinegar to water in a 1:10 ratio.)

Be sure to squirt your oil soap onto the floor far enough away from the section you’ve just mopped so that it doesn’t splatter on top of your freshly mopped floor, or you’ll have to go back and do those sections again.

Repeat the process until you’ve covered your entire floor with oil soap. Some people prefer to go back over it with a clean, damp mop and swipe away any residue left behind by the oil soap. I find the oil soap to be effective on its own and choose not to wipe it after application.

A clean wood floor is like the 8th wonder of the world, really. So pretty. Don’t forget the door mats near the doors to help your floor stay squeaky clean after you’ve put in the effort to get it that way. We hope you’ve enjoyed learning how to clean wood floors. Now go clean yours so it gleams!

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About the author

Brittney is a wife, a mom of four young children, a writer and editor (B.S. degree in English/Technical Writing), and a lover of interior design. She thrives on finding inexpensive ways to DIY her own home into a stylish yet family-friendly space.